Crime

One of the victims from O.J. Simpson's Las Vegas armed robbery -- which landed him in prison -- says he has no problems with Simpson finally getting loose earlier than expected, 'cause life moves on.

Bruce Fromong, a sports memorabilia dealer, tells TMZ ... he's already forgiven O.J. for the incident, and it does no good to dwell on the past -- even though he also says the robbery nearly destroyed his life.

As we reported, Simpson is a completely free man now that his parole ended earlier than expected. Simpson was on parole after serving 9 years behind bars for his 2008 conviction in the armed robbery case.

Remember, he was found guilty of leading a group of men into a Vegas hotel room in 2007 to steal memorabilia from people -- including Bruce -- who he claimed had stolen from him.

Bruce really means it when he says he's forgiven Simpson ... telling us they still do some memorabilia shows together and see each other on golf courses.

Not everyone feels that way -- the sister of his slain ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, hopes Simpson is shunned by Hollywood types.

Alec Baldwin's phone might contain crucial evidence in the "Rust" shooting investigation ... at least cops think so, and that's why they now have a warrant to comb through it.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Dept. got a New Mexico judge to sign off Thursday on a search warrant for Alec's mobile phone ... a move that comes nearly 2 months after the accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Alec told investigators about emails between head armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and himself, in which she showed him different styles of guns and knives for the film. He says he requested a bigger gun, and she showed him an antique Colt.

We know Alec was using a replica of an 1873 Colt 45 at the time of the shooting.

Remember, during his ABC interview ... Alec said he's sure he's not responsible for Halyna's death, although he wouldn't say who was. District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies begged to differ though ... saying neither Baldwin nor anyone else who had contact with the weapon was in the clear yet. She stressed the investigation was ongoing.

In the docs, cops say they're trying to gather information about the production from before filming started. They clearly feel Alec's emails and/or texts might contain some of that data. When they asked for his phone, they were told to get a warrant.

One interesting anecdote about Hannah -- during an interview with detectives, they say she said she didn't believe anyone on the "Rust" production would be malicious enough to bring live ammo on the set.

That's weird because, as we reported, her attorney told us he thinks someone sabotaged Hannah by intentionally mixing live rounds with dummy ammunition. The D.A.'s dismissed that theory.

Chris Noth -- the actor who famously played Mr. Big in "Sex and the City" as well as the show's reboot -- is now facing allegations of sexual assault from two women, but Noth is coming out strong, calling the claims "categorically false."

A report from The Hollywood Reporter Thursday details the accounts of two women who say they were triggered to come forward and tell their story after seeing Noth reprise his role in the 'SATC' reboot "And Just Like That..."

Noth tells us, "The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women."

As for the allegations ... one of the women, Zoe, says she was 22 in 2004 when she and a friend met Noth -- who she'd previously spoken to -- at his apartment pool to hang out. Zoe claims Noth asked her a bunch of questions about her major before giving her a book to take a look at.

Zoe says Noth went to his apartment to take a call, and after a while, she went into his unit to return the book where she says he first kissed her and then forcefully removed her shorts and bikini bottom and raped her as she yelled "Stop!" Zoe told THR she went to the hospital, but wouldn't tell cops who had assaulted her.

A source close to Noth confirms to us that he and Zoe were flirty, but tells us the sexual encounter in his apartment was consensual and Zoe asked to meetup again.

The other woman, Lily, told THR she was 25 in 2015 when she met Noth while working at a VIP server at a NYC nightclub. Lily says the Noth invited her for dinner one night, but the two just ended up drinking and wound up back at the actor's apartment.

Lily claims they started to kiss, but Noth became much more forceful, removing his pants and sticking his penis in her mouth before having sex with her from behind.

Our Noth source confirms the meeting between the two, but says the encounter with Lily was also consensual.

Travis Scott's Astroworld stage is finally being broken down and hauled away after the tragedy in Houston.

Crews were hard at work Wednesday, dismantling the stage that continued to stand tall for 40 days after the deadly concert. There's a ton of crew members removing everything from lighting to the video screens and structure of the Houston event.

As for why it stayed up so long, law enforcement likely needed everything in place while they continued their investigation into what happened and what went wrong with the show's logistics and apparent lack of a safety plan.

As you know, the death toll from the Astroworld festival reached 10, and there's massive lawsuits pending against Travis and the concert promoters.

Another interesting piece from yesterday's hearing, Holley tells us, "On cross-examination, Detective Stogner admitted that the bullet fragments allegedly removed from Ms. Pete’s ankles cannot be located."

Of course, if available, the fragments would be hard evidence to prove it was a bullet, and not glass in Meg's foot. If they're missing, it leaves the door open for other possibilities.

Megan's got big issues with what the independent witness told police about her arguing with Kelsey ... and she makes a good point.

Megan just tweeted, "I've been shot and the focus of some these headlines are dismissing that I was attacked with a weapon while I was unarmed and trying to paint it as a cat fight between friends."

Fact is ... even if there was a dispute with Kelsey inside the SUV, we know Megan was shot while she was standing outside the vehicle. Megan's openly said she got out of the car because she didn't want to argue anymore ... which makes the dispute almost irrelevant to the moment the trigger was pulled.

An independent witness told cops they saw Megan Thee Stallion and her female friend, Kelsey, fighting just moments before Meg was shot in the foot ... a piece of evidence Tory Lanez's team feels cast serious doubt on what Meg said about him being the shooter.

During Tuesday's preliminary hearing a detective testified this independent witness -- who allegedly saw the shooting happen -- claimed the gun's muzzle flash went off closer to Kelsey than Tory.

Tory's attorney, Shawn Holley, says that muzzle flash detail is "corroborated by the gunshot residue found on the other female's hands." She also tells us, "It was further established that Megan gave several inconsistent accounts of what happened that night and that she omitted key information to the police."

Holley is almost certainly referring to what Meg first told responding officers, she had glass, and not a bullet, in her foot. Meg later claimed she only said it was glass because she was afraid if she told cops there was a Black man in the car with a gun, Tory could get shot.

Remember, this was the month after George Floyd was murdered.

Still, Holley adds, "We look forward to the opportunity to cross examine her at trial about the numerous inconsistencies in her story.”

Jim Bob Duggar won't be serving as an Arkansas state senator anytime soon, because he got crushed in the Republican primary ... just days after his son, Josh, was convicted in his child porn trial.

The "19 Kids and Counting" star got clobbered during Tuesday's special election ... which saw him going up against other Republicans for an open state senate seat. The numbers are brutal ... Duggar only raked in about 15% of the vote, while former Springdale City Councilmember Colby Fulfer ended up the victor, with a decisive 46%.

Timing of the election couldn't have been worse for Duggar ... coming the week after Josh was found guilty of possessing tons of child pornography. Hard to say how much of a factor that was for voters, but this is exactly what his own son-in-law predicted would happen.

You'll recall ... Derick Dillard, who's married to Jim Bob's daughter, Jill, told us he thought Josh's conviction would hurt his father-in-law's chances -- and sure enough, he seems to have been right. Derick also happened to endorse Fulfer.

Abel Osundairo was proudly rocking a red MAGA hat while celebrating a big moment in his boxing career ... but he says he's not throwing a jab at Jussie Smollett.

Ya gotta see this video TMZ obtained of Abel and brother Ola celebrating Abel becoming the top amateur boxer in his weight class ... they're partying it up at a Chicago club, with some eye-catching hats.

Abel's got a red hat that says MAGA ... which, of course, plays like a reference to Jussie claiming his attackers yelled "this is MAGA country" during the hoax attack.

While some think he was gloating over Jussie, who was just found guilty of lying to Chicago cops, Abel's attorney, Gloria Rodriguez tells TMZ ... the hat is not a shot at Smollett or show of support for Donald Trump.

Instead, Abel's lawyer says he customized the MAGA hat with an outline of Africa as the letter "A" because he wants the hat to be a reflection of his Nigerian heritage. It's more like Make Africa Great Again ... than anything else.

The celebration went down Sunday night at Chicago's Sage nightclub after he won a boxing tournament in Louisiana, vaulting him to the No. 1 amateur boxing ranking in the 189-pound division.

Remember, we've seen Abel show off his boxing prowess before ... so it's no shock he's climbing the ranks.

Ola's got an interesting hat too -- his red lid says, "Free Larry Hoover," which is timely considering Kanye West and Drake just squashed their beef with a benefit concert for the notorious Chicago gangster ... who Ola believes was wrongly imprisoned.

It's a long since cold case that's suddenly been solved -- human remains discovered back in the 80s in a garbage bag have finally been identified as Frank "Frankie" Little Jr. ... the guitarist and songwriter for the O'Jays.

In 1982, police found the bag behind a business in Twinsburg, Ohio. At the time, they could tell the person had been stabbed to death several years prior, but they were not able to figure out his identity.

It was only 2 months ago when a breakthrough came courtesy of DNA technology and a non-profit org. Police explained, "In October 2021, the DNA Doe Project provided the names of potential living relatives, who were able to provide Frank's name."

Police say, that a close relative [of Little's] provided a DNA sample, which was analyzed by a crime lab, and sure enough ... Frank's identity was confirmed.

Frank played with the O'Jays in the R&B group's early days ... writing several songs including "Pretty Words" and "Oh How You Hurt Me."

It wouldn't be until after his tenure that the group scored its biggest hits, including "Back Stabbers," "For the Love of Money" and "Love Train."

After his run with the O'Jays, he joined the U.S. Army, served 2 years in Vietnam and eventually went back to his hometown of Cleveland ... his last known residence.

Boosie Badazz's destructive brawl during a performance was a planned attack that ended up costing the promoters a crap ton of money -- at least according to the promoters who are now suing him over it.

MN2S Corp. and We Are Live Entertainment -- booker and promoter, respectively, for the "Legendz of the Streetz" tour -- just filed suit against the rapper, claiming he caused all the mayhem that unfolded in October at Atlanta's State Farm Arena.

You'll recall ... there was a massive brouhaha that went down in the middle of the show, which resulted in equipment getting damaged, and the entire production getting shut down early. Boosie, as seen in the video, was right in the middle of the fracas.

In their lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the companies say Boosie was initially booked for a total of $150k for five different appearances alongside guys like 2 Chainz, Rick Ross, Jeezy and others. They even say they gave him a $50k deposit in good faith before night #1.

Welp, the companies claim before the show Boosie contacted We Are Live president, Leonard Rowe, demanding more dough than what was agreed upon. Rowe declined to pay more, and they allege Boosie threatening to torpedo the whole thing ... and then followed through.

They claim Boosie slipped past security and destroyed a bunch of pricey equipment before fighting with security. They say the show ended early as a result -- before Ross, the headliner, could even take the stage.

The woman Henry Ruggs slammed his Corvette into in a fiery car crash last month burned to death ... officials revealed on Tuesday.

According to reps from the Clark County coroner's office in Nevada, Tintor "died from thermal injuries due to a motor vehicle collision."

The officials added other contributing causes to the death included "inhalation of products of combustion, fractures of the nasal bones, right sided ribs, and left forearm, and a left hemothorax."

The officials ruled the death accidental.

As we previously reported, Ruggs is accused of drunkenly causing the accident ... after officials say he was speeding with a .161 BAC before he rammed his sportscar into the back of Tintor's RAV4 at around 3:39 a.m. on Nov. 2 in Las Vegas.

In 911 calls, obtained by TMZ Sports, you can hear witnesses telling dispatchers the fire surrounding Tintor's car following the collision was intense.

"It's almost all gone," a woman said of Tintor's fire-engulfed vehicle ... adding, "and I think someone is in it."

O.J. Simpson's parole has ended early ... and, according to his attorney, he's now "a completely free man."

A spokesperson for the Nevada State Police confirmed to TMZ Sports that Simpson was, in fact, discharged from parole earlier this month.

According to the spokesperson, Simpson -- who had been on parole since Oct. 1, 2017 -- was awarded good behavior credits which made him eligible for ending it early.

His parole was initially set to expire on Feb. 9, 2022.

"Mr. Simpson is a completely free man now," the former NFL star's attorney, Malcolm LaVergne, told the Associated Press following the news.

Of course, 74-year-old Simpson had been on parole after he served nine years behind bars following his conviction in his armed robbery case in 2008.

You'll recall, Simpson had been convicted of leading a group of men -- including several who were armed -- into a Las Vegas hotel room in 2007 to steal memorabilia from people he said had previously stolen from him.

O.J. was originally sentenced to 33 years behind bars for the crime.

Simpson has been living in Las Vegas since his release from jail -- golfing often while commenting on NFL games on his Twitter page.

Tory Lanez shouted "Dance bitch, dance!" while firing gunshots at the ground near Megan Thee Stallion's feet, subsequently injuring her ... at least according to testimony from a detective on the case.

LAPD Det. Ryan Stogner took the stand in court Tuesday during a preliminary hearing in Tory's case. The detective says Megan told him Tory was intoxicated during the July 2020 incident.

Det. Stogner went on to say this happened in the Hollywood Hills around 4:30 AM after a party, and a dispute between the artists.

He went on to describe that Tory was standing on the step board of their SUV while Megan was outside of it -- and as soon as Tory fired the shots, she "immediately felt pain to her feet, observed blood, fell to the ground, and then crawled to an adjacent driveway of a residence."

He also said under oath that Megan told him Tory apologized and begged her not to tell, allegedly offering her money to keep her mouth shut because he was on probation. Det. Stogner said, Megan initially explained her injury by claiming she'd stepped on broken glass.

Megan allegedly later admitted she only said it was glass because of the political climate ... she was afraid cops might shoot Tory if she said there was a gun in the car.

What's more ... a recorded phone call was played that Tory made from jail to a woman who was also with Meg when the incident happened. Tory apologizes on the call for something he did because he was too drunk. Tory got pissed in the courtroom, yelling out, "How you gonna tell me what I apologized for?" before his attorney told him to calm down.

The judge heard enough during Tuesday's hearing to move forward with a trial, which is now set to begin on January 13. Tory's facing one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm in a manner that caused great bodily injury, and one count of carrying a concealed, unregistered weapon.

The detective's testimony confirmed something Megan's already said publicly ... that in the wake of George Floyd, she feared cops would shoot Tory if she told them a Black man had a gun and had shot her.

Former NFL player Phillip Adams -- who slaughtered 6 people before taking his own life -- had a severe case of CTE when he went on a violent rampage, according to a neuropathologist.

Ann McKee, a top brain doc who runs the CTE Center at Boston University -- the nation's premier facility when it comes to examining brains -- released her findings after thoroughly examining Adams' brain.

Adams was suffering from stage 2 CTE, considered a "severe" case, because it was found in both frontal lobes of his brain.

In fact, Dr. McKee said Adams' case of CTE was similar to Aaron Hernandez's ... who was convicted of murder in 2015, and like the defensive back, also took his own life.

Adams went on a killing spree in York County, South Carolina in April, brutally murdering a prominent area doctor, his wife, two grandkids (5 & 9-years-old), and two people working on the family home.

Adams then took his own life a short time later.

In light of the horrific incident, Adams' family agreed to send his brain to Boston U.

FYI, "Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is the term used to describe brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas. CTE is a diagnosis made only at autopsy by studying sections of the brain," according to the Mayo Clinic.

At the time of the shooting, Phillip's sister told USA Today her brother was struggling with mental health issues, but said her brother "wasn't a monster."

Dr. McKee's findings likely finally explain the bizarre and violent behavior.

Adams was a 7th-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers out of South Carolina State. He played 6 seasons in the league ... for the 49ers, Patriots, Seahawks, Raiders, Jets and Falcons.

A train ride in New York turned violent for one woman, who got a hand to the face after getting into an argument with an alleged creep ... a guy NYPD's now trying to find.

The incident went down on a Brooklyn-bound subway line early Friday ... and as you can see in the video ... the man and woman were really going at it. The woman was seated and yelling at the guy who was standing over her and shouting back, "It's none of your business."

At one point, things escalate physically, with the guy smacking her right in the face ... and she lets out a scream.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... someone on the train reported this to cops shortly after it happened, and the victim suffered minor injuries and a pair of broken glasses. The man in question had fled by the time officers arrived.

As to what led up to this, we're told the woman allegedly saw the guy taking photos of women onboard, and she decided to do the same to him ... which apparently pissed him off.

Jim Bob Duggar's likelihood of winning a state senate race in Arkansas just went down, drastically, due to his son's conviction ... this according to another member of the Duggar fam.

Derick Dillard -- who's married to JBD's daughter and Josh's sister, Jill -- tells TMZ ... Josh's guilty verdict in his child porn trial puts his father-in-law in a tough spot politically, and not just because of the obvious association to his son ... but because of public past stances he's taken on sex crimes. In Derick's eyes, Jim Bob's track record won't help.

Take, for example, a policy JBD proposed on a now-defunct site of his when he ran for U.S. Senate in '02, which talked about what should happen to somebody who rapes a woman. As you can see, he called for executing the perpetrator and keeping the baby alive.

It's not apples to apples, comparing that to what Josh's conviction for possessing a ton of child pornography -- but in Derick's eyes, it makes Jim Bob look hypocritical ... because he doesn't think his father-in-law would take as hard a stance now, in light of what's happening to his own flesh and blood.

More relative to Josh's situation is a bill JBD helped sponsor in 2001 -- when he was in the state's House of Reps. -- calling for widening the categories of sex offenses to include "pandering or possessing visual or print medium depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child." Derick believes Jim Bob will get grilled on the campaign trail for that one.

Big picture ... Derick says Jim Bob's come across as less than transparent or credible due to vague statements he made while Josh was under investigation.

Of course, Derick's hardly a JBD fan to begin with. As you know, he and Jill have distanced themselves from the famous fam since 2017 ... when Derick accused his father-in-law of screwing his kids out of money.

Still, DD admits Jim Bob could gut out a victory, due to his TV fame and name recognition/wealth -- all of which could help him get past the PR nightmare of Josh.

After a 5-year battle, the hundreds of gymnasts who were victims of Larry Nassar's incessant sexual abuse have reached a $380 million agreement to settle their lawsuits against USA Gymnastics and the USA Olympic Committee.

MSU settled with 332 female athletes back in 2018 for $500 million ... and on Monday, USA Gymnastics and the USOPC raised the total amount to $880 million, the highest settlement amount for a single perpetrator in a sexual assault case, according to ESPN.

"This settlement is the result of the bravery of hundreds of survivors who, despite legal obstacles, long odds and the best corporate legal talent money can buy, refused to be silent," the gymnasts' attorney John Manly told the outlet. "The power of their story eventually won the day."

Along with the money, as part of the settlement, USA Gymnastics and the USOPC have vowed to make huge changes within the organizations to ensure the safety and betterment of the athletes.

Some of Team USA's biggest stars have spoken out about Nassar ... including Simone Biles, who claimed his abuse may have triggered her mental health struggles during the 2020 Olympics.